'Mammoth View' hotel in limbo

February 10, 2012

The “Mammoth View” project, an innovative, 54-room hotel with 24 townhouses and 28 freestanding cabins, is on hold.

Make that a six-year hold, mostly because of Greece.

Granted, Athens is a long way from Mammoth, but its financial woes are affecting projects that need a lender.

There aren’t any, at least not for a project as vast as this one.

The Mammoth Lakes Planning Commission heard the sad tale Wednesday, when the project manager asked for—and received—a six-year time extension for the project.

Mammoth View received rave reviews from the commission last August. The commission voted unanimously to proceed with construction to begin next year.

The hotel-townhouse-condo project is to be built on Alpine Circle and Mountain Boulevard.

It is a 5.51-acre acre site, along the north side of Main Street to the east of the intersection with Minaret Road, next to the Viewpoint Condominiums.

The upper portion on the site would be about 40 feet above Main Street and is currently developed with the Swiss Chalet and Royal Pines hotels.

It is to have a spa building, hot tubs, picnic areas, a restaurant and bar, public art, walking areas and a walkway in front, along Main Street. To accomplish that part of the puzzle, the developers said they would help in a reconfiguration of the stoplight at Main Street and Minaret Road.

But the main selling point last August was the notion of using geothermal energy.

Rick Phelps, of the High Sierra Energy Foundation, was among the project’s strong supporters, who called the plan “both visionary and bold.”